Thursday, 10 July 2014

Interview with a Master Philosopher

I imagine I interviewed the master philosopher, Professor Nassim
Nicholas Taleb, author of The Black Swan,
Fooled by Randomness and Anti-fragile. I imagine further that his
answers to all my questions were taken directly, unmodified, and word-for-word
from his amazing book of practical aphorisms entitled The Bed of Procrustes. Of course the caveat here is that the
answers do not fully represent his personal views since it is a simple case of
cut-and- paste as answers to contrived questions. But if the interview (as I'd imagined it) had gone through,
it would go something like this.

Thanks for coming sir.

…(smiles)

Let’s start with this question: What
is true love?

True love is the complete victory of the particular over the
general, and the unconditional over the conditional. Love without sacrifice is
like theft.

Mm...interesting. How about love,
money and knowledge, can we have it all?

At any stage, humans can thirst for money, knowledge, or love;
sometimes for two, never for three.

And what can you say about happiness
and love?

The difference between love and happiness is that those who
talk about love tend to be in love, but those who talk about happiness tend to
be not happy.

I see. Let's pick your brain on
generosity. What is pure generosity?

Pure generosity is when you help the ingrate. Every other form
is self-serving. Even the cheapest misers can be generous with advice.

How about true humility?

True humility is when you can surprise yourself more than
others; the rest is either shyness or good marketing.

And false modesty is?

Most of what they call humility is successfully disguised
arrogance.

So, we should be wary of first
impression?

We expect places and products to be less attractive than in
marketing brochures, but we never forgive humans for being worse than their
first impressions. To value a person, consider the difference between how
impressive he or she was at the first encounter and the most recent one.

But how do we become more authentic,
more sincere?

You want to avoid being disliked without being envied or admired.
Half the people lie with their lips; the other half with their tears.

So it’s about being true to yourself
in deeds and words?

When expressing “good luck” to a peer, the weak wishes the
opposite; the strong is mildly indifferent; but only the magnificent means it.

You make it sound like people can’t
be trusted?

I trust everyone except those who tell me they are trustworthy.
Trust people who make a living lying down or standing up more than those who do
so sitting down. People usually apologize so that they can do it again.

Good advice. Any wise words for
humanity as a whole?

You have a real life if and only if you do not compete with
anyone in any of your pursuits.

Is that success to you?

My only measure of success is how much time you have to kill.
The opposite of success isn’t failure; it is name-dropping.

I understand you were once a trader.
In your early days, have you ever wished to be successful like those wall
street bankers?

Some, like most bankers, are so unfit for success that they look
like dwarves dressed in giants’ clothes. Fate is at its cruelest when a banker
ends up in poverty. Fortune punishes the greedy by making him poor and the very
greedy by making him rich.

That would mean being rich is bad
karma?

You are rich if and only if money you refuse tastes better than
money you accept.

Good point. What’s your measure of a
good life sir?

You have a calibrated life when most of what you fear has the
titillating prospect of adventure.

So life’s one long beautiful
adventure for you?

Life’s beauty…the kindest act toward you in your life may come
from an outsider not interested in reciprocation.

Hmm…selfless giving. What in your
view is man’s problem?

Over the long term, you are more likely to fool yourself than
others.

Self-deception I see. What makes it
worse for us?

The person you are the most afraid to contradict is yourself.

So, we fake everything? We are fakes?

Hatred is much harder to fake than love. You hear of fake love;
never of fake hate. Usually, what we call a “good listener” is someone with
skillfully polished indifference.

But don’t we want the truth? Doesn’t
the truth set you free?

If you lie to me, keep lying; don’t hurt me by suddenly telling
the truth.

Are you saying that we can’t handle
the truth? What about the freedom to change?

You don’t become completely free by just avoiding to be slave;
you also need to avoid becoming a master.

Does modern technology attenuate this
problem?

The difference between technology and slavery is that slaves are
fully aware that they are not free.

You're talking about self-awareness.
Is that the key to understanding?

Medieval man was a cog in a wheel he did not understand; modern
man is a cog in a complicated system he thinks he understands.

And it is your view that we think we
know when we don’t really know that we don’t know?

It takes a lot of intellect and confidence to accept that what
makes sense doesn’t really make sense. Knowledge is subtractive, not additive –
what we subtract (reduction by what does not work, what not to do), not what we
add (what to do). Any idiot can be intelligent.

So self-awareness is coming to a
point of admitting your ignorance?

Conscious ignorance, if you can practice it, expands your world;
it can make things infinite.

And knowledge is power and yet
humbling, especially the knowledge of knowing the extent of your ignorance. I
heard that’s Confucius’ definition of being wise?

It takes extraordinary wisdom and self-control to accept that
many things have a logic we do not understand that is smarter than our own.

I see your point. What is your view
on the vanities of man then?

They read Gibbon’s Decline and Fall on an e-Reader but refuse to
drink Chateau Lynch-Bages in a
Styrofoam cup. Upon arriving at the hotel in Dubai, the businessman had a porter
carry his luggage; I later saw him lifting free weights in the gym. Meditation
is a way to be narcissistic without hurting anyone. Just as dyed hair makes
older men less attractive, it is what you do to hide your weaknesses that make
them repugnant.

So all that unravels the
superficialities of modern men?

Modernity inflicts a sucker narrative on activities; now we
“walk for exercise”, not “walk” with no justification: for hidden reasons.
Finer men tolerate others’ small inconsistencies though not the large ones; the
weak tolerate others’ large inconsistencies though not small ones. I guess that
sums us up quite neatly. Do you always know what to say and how to say it?

A good maxim allows you to have the last word without even
starting a conversation.

I see…I guess I am very much
persuaded by your biting wit. Just for kicks, can you share an aphorism from
your book?

The three most harmful addictions are heroin, carbohydrates, and
a monthly salary.

Haha...funny, monthly salary. It's
the opiate of modern cubicle slavery. I guess we are out of time sir. Thanks
for coming. Any parting shot for the reader?

They are born, then put in a box; they go home to live in a box;
they study by ticking boxes; they go to what is called “work” in a box, where
they sit in their cubicle box; they drive to the grocery store in a box to buy
food in a box; they go to the gym in a box to sit in a box; they talk about
thinking “outside the box”; and when they die they are put in a box. All boxes,
Euclidian, geometrically smooth boxes.